Cycotherapy News Roundup: Biking to school, motorized anarchy in NYC, what happened on K2, taking back a stolen bike and Aldo Leopold
Greetings on this fine Friday, cycopaths.
Today, I floated an idea to my oldest daughter — the one who started kindergarten last week. We were all still waking up, nodding off the grogginess. Still in PJs. Me, drinking coffee and reading a magazine. She, drinking juice and watching a bit of a cartoon.
“Hey Ruby, wanna ride your bike to school this morning?”
“Yeah!”
I was a little surprised I didn’t have to try and convince her at all.
So, we rode our bikes to school. It’s a little over a mile, with two biggish hills to climb for little legs and a tiny, pink single speed. But she did it, and she commented on things she saw on the way.
“Oh, look at that squirrel. I like squirrels, daddy. They’re cute.”
And “did you see those color things in the grass back there?” I glanced back. They were some sort of yard decor.
“Oh, yeah, those are cool.”
“Can we get some for our yard someday?”
“Maybe someday,” I said with a smile.
Growing up, I remember seeing bikes on racks at elementary school. Though I desired it, I never got to ride my bike to school. I always thought those kids were so lucky to live so close to school. I lived sorta far, and my mom was nervous about the idea of riding on the roads.
I think it’s important to instill a sense of comfort with riding on the roads safely with my kids. To be visible, to use hand signals, to wear a helmet. To be courteous to drivers, but also to assert my place on the road when necessary. In fact, bikes belong on the road too. How will we ever reach a point where we see just as many bikes on the road as vehicles if we always cower to the sidewalks?
Some might question the wisdom in taking a 5 year-old on the roads. I mean, yeah — it can be dangerous. But we’re surrounded by dangerous things. It lurks around every corner. I don’t know. I just think it’s a great way to build confidence. And everyone — even kids — could benefit from a bit of cycotherapy, right?
headlines
A second-hand bike platform
Buycycle, a European startup selling used bikes, is expanding its operations to the U.S. I don’t have any experience on the platform, but I think this is marvelous. There should be more opportunities for people to buy a bike in an affordable way. Not every budding cyclist wants to buy a brand new bike, nor can they all afford to. So, yeah. I’ll keep my eyes on this one.
‘Slippery slope to dope’
It’s no secret that cyclists, even triathletes, dope. There are 24 pages devoted to the subject in the Wold Anti Doping Agency. But apparently motor doping is also a thing. “Motor doping, also referred to as mechanical doping, occurs when a competitor uses a device, like a concealed motor, to artificially increase the acceleration or speed of a bike.” Sheesh.
Livestrong, die weak
Speaking of dope, on Aug. 29, 2012, I turned 21. Oh, and also: the USADA claims to have stripped Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles. (Yes, it was my birthday on Tuesday.)
Motorized anarchy in NYC
Our cantankerous friend Eben Weiss took on the issue of motor scooters’ presence in NYC bike lanes, calling it “another case of motorized anarchy plaguing New York City” in his latest piece for Outside Magazine. I tend to agree with his thesis here: more enforcement. But … how can a city with a force resigning at a record pace keep up with the ever-growing problem?
feature of the week
On July 27th this year, 102 people bypassed a Pakistani porter named Mohammed Hassan on their way to K2’s summit as he lay dying after a fall. Some of them literally stepped over him. The news of this sparked outrage. In this piece by Matthew Loh for Insider, we get a clearer picture as to what happened.
book excerpt of the week
During every week from April to September there are, on the average, ten wild plants coming into first bloom. In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them. He who steps unseeing on May dandelions may be hauled up short by August ragweed pollen; he who ignores the ruddy haze of April elms may skid his car on the fallen corollas of June catalpas. Tell me of what plant-birthday a man takes notice, and I shall tell you a good deal about his vocation, his hobbies, his hay fever, and the general level of his ecological education.
Every July I watch eagerly a certain country graveyard that I pass in driving to and from my farm. It is time for a prairie birthday, and in one corner of this graveyard lives a surviving celebrant of that once important event.
It is an ordinary graveyard, bordered by the usual spruces, and studded with the usual pink granite or white marble headstones, each with the usual Sunday bouquet or red or pink geraniums. It is extraordinary only in being triangular instead of square, and in harboring, within the sharp angle of its fence, a pin-point remnant of prairie on which the graveyard was established in the 1840s. Heretofore unreachable by scythe or mower, this yard-square relic of original Wisconsin gives birth, each July, to a man-high stalk of compass plant or cutleaf Silphium, spangled with saucer-sized yellow blooms resembling sunflowers. It is the sole remnant in the western half of our county. What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked.
Aldo Leopold — A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
I read Leopoldo’s book. Try to get your hands on Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey to continue Leopold’s journey.
I saw the snap today and I guessed you were riding with Ruby to school! I'm sure she loved this. You are a great dad Dillon! Thanks for sharing!❤️